The course of action proposed in the report I am about to share and remark upon is like the famous curate's egg - good 'in parts'.  The good part is the proposed bombardment.  The bad part is the nonsense about addressing 'root causes' (which studiously ignores the real cause - Islam - of the ongoing mayhem): the training of some Somali Muslims in the arts of war (why are we so anxious to teach any Muslims anywhere to master the modern Infidel arts of war?), and the proposal to bribe Somali Muslim males not to engage in robbing and kidnapping of Infidels.  Which is essentially a proposal to pay jizya.

As reported by AFP, and reproduced in Australia's ABC.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-03-24/eu-authorises-warships-to-hit-somali-pirate-lairs/3910332

'EU Authorises Warships to Hit Somali Pirate Lairs'.

Yes, yes, yes!! - CM

'The European Union (EU) has authorised its navies to strike Somali pirate equipment on land as foreign ministers agreed to beef up the anti-piracy mission and extend it until December 2014.

'Until December 2014'.  Really? Better prepare for a longer haul than that.  So long as Somalia remains majority Muslim, and so long as they encounter no very serious opposition nor suffer very much in the way of casualties when they attack, Somali Muslim males will put out to sea (or, for that matter, conduct raids across the borders of neighbouring Infidel states - South Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya) to attack, rob and hold to ransom non-Muslims (and in the case of shipping, sometimes also their fellow Muslims).  And 'equipment on land'? Why only 'equipment'?  Why not bomb the palaces of the pirate gang bosses? Surely, with modern satellite eyes in the sky being what they are, we have a pretty good idea where some of them are?  And why not have a policy of simply blowing pirate boats out of the water?  - CM

'The EU's Operation Atalanta has deployed between five and 10 warships off the Somali coast since 2008 to escort humanitarian aid shipments and thwart pirate raids on commercial vessels using vital shipping lanes.

'Foreign ministers meeting in Brussels on Friday agreed to extend "the force's area of operations to include Somali coastal territory as well as its territorial and internal waters", an EU statement said.

'The new mandate will allow warships or helicopters to fire at fuel barrels, boats, trucks or other equipment stowed away on beaches, an EU official said on condition of anonymity.

Where are the pirate palaces - the compounds of the pirate or the jihad gang bosses of Somalia?  Find those.  That's what you have to obliterate. Because that's where some of the money's going.  And if they have large shiny mosques next door, take those out, too. - CM

"Piracy has caused so much misery to the Somali people and to the crews of ships transiting the area and it is right that we continue to move forward in our efforts", said Rear Admiral Duncan Potts, Atalanta's operational commander.

It's not just the misery. What has to be ended is the enormous economic drain inflicted by this ever-increasing Somali Muslim piracy upon mostly-Infidel nations and businesses: all the extortionate ransoms they've been forced to pay and the expensive security measures they have had to take.  Money from stolen goods and from ransoms has flowed into the hands of Muslim warlords and also, most likely, via zakat paid by those warlords, to Muslim jihadists in Somalia and probably beyond Somalia.   - CM

'EU officials insisted that no ground troops would be deployed (good - CM) and that missiles would be launched from the sea.

"The EU plan is to allow attacks on land installations when ships are assaulted at sea", Spanish foreign minister Jose Manuel Garcia-Magallo told reporters, adding that "much care" would be taken to avoid civilian deaths.

But neither Al Shabaab nor any of the Muslim pirates wear uniforms.  So how do you determine who is a civilian and who is not?  Of course, the moment the bombardment begins, everyone in those Muslim pirate nests will magically turn into an innocent civilian.  I am reminded of a maxim recently stated to me: 'Q: How do you turn a Taliban into a civilian? A - Shoot him". That was in response to my citation of a sardonic maxim I had come across in talkbacks to a British newspaper article, to wit - 'Q: How do you turn an Afghan Muslim civilian into a Taliban? - A: Turn your back on him". - CM

'Spain and Germany had voiced reservations about allowing strikes on pirate lairs (why? Massive strikes upon known pirate lairs - and, too, the blowing of attacking pirate boats to smithereens, and the execution of such pirates as are captured alive - is the only thing that has ever really worked against entrenched and ongoing piracy whether the pirates be Muslim or non-Muslim - see C S Forester's "The Barbary Pirates" for one historical case study- CM) but they lifted their objections this week.

"Today's important decision extends Atalanta's mandate for two more years and allows it to take more robust action on the Somali coast," EU foreign policy chief Catherine Ashton said.

'The ministers also activated the first EU Operations Centre to oversee three missions in the Horn of Africa.

'In addition to Operation Atalanta, the EU has trained Somali soldiers in Uganda since 2010 (why, why, why? - no infidel state has any business teaching Muslims of any sort how to become better fighters - CM) and is preparing a civilian mission to help the countries in the region police their waters.

Help Kenya, yes, to defend itself against Muslim ghazi raiders crossing its sea - and land - borders.  And, too, help Ethiopia and South Sudan to close their borders against Muslim raiders. But why help Somalia?  They will not try very hard to prevent their fellow Muslims from imitating Mohammed's caravan raids vis a vis those tempting Infidel boats that can bring in such a lot of money via ransoms for crews and cargoes.  - CM

'Seeking to fight the root causes of piracy, Ashton said the ministers would also discuss how "young men who are enticed to become pirates can be offered real alternatives" and a better life.'

In other words, she is proposing to pour more and yet more 'aid', that is, jizya, into the bottomless pit that is Somali, in the hope of bribing young Somali Muslim men to cease from imitating the example of Mohammed the slave-taker, extortionist and caravan-robber.  

A word in Ms Ashton's ear: it won't work.  Paying jizya doesn't stop the Jihad, it merely conditions you to behave like a dhimmi, and inexorably over time drains you of resources with which to defend yourselves and sustain your societies.  So long as Somalia remains Muslim, some Somali Muslims will attack, rob, kidnap and hold to ransom, and quite frequently rape or kill, any Infidel who lives or travels within reach.  The only way to deter this is to ensure that all such attacks are punished by the use of instant and overwhelming force against the attackers on sea or on land, and against the places from whence the attacks issue and are directed - the pirate ports, the pirate or jihadi gang bosses' palaces, villas or home compounds, and perhaps also the mosques where young men are exhorted to wage Jihad. Let piracy by Somali Muslims cease to be either safe or profitable for them - that is the way to stop it.  - CM